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m TWO ERAS: 

OLD and NEW 




EDWARD S. JEROME 



niie 

TWO ERAS: OLD AND NEW 

A Political and Historical 

Sketch of Our Government 

from 

1789 to 1917 

EDWARD SPARROW JEROME 




J. F. ROWNY PRESS 

LOS AKFGELES 

I Q I 6 






Oct ?< «jf 



TTie Two Eras: Old and New 




>VERY schoolboy knows that Virginia was 
called the Mother of Presidents. Eight of 
our chief magistrates, Washington, Jefferson, 
Madison, Monroe, Tyler, William Henry 
Harrison, Taylor and Wilson, were born 
upon her sacred soil. The first four were elected presi- 
dent from their native state, and each of them served 
two terms, or eight years; Tyler was elected vice- 
president with W. H. Harrison, and succeeded him at 
his death ; Harrison and Taylor, both soldiers of distinc- 
tion, were elected president from Ohio and Louisiana, 
respectively, and died before their terms were completed. 
Incidentally, it may be noted that they were the only 
presidents elected by the Whig party. Wilson, an edu- 
cator of distinction, as long the head of Princeton 
University, was chosen from New Jersey. 

Washington was inaugurated in 1789; up to 1861, 
seventy-two years thereafter, the South had the presi- 
dency more than two-thirds of the time, or forty-nine 
years; the North about one-third, or twenty-three years. 
Though the latter was far superior in population, wealth 
and commercial importance, the former was able to 
dominate the country because of her being more united 
and thereby more aggressive. Furthermore, up to '61 
five of her presidents, Washington, Jefferson, Madison, 
Monroe and Jackson, had been re-elected; the North 
had been able to re-elect none, the two Adamses and 
Van Buren, who had stood for another term, being 
defeated. In fact, Virginia and North Carolina gave 

[3] 



birth to all the Southern presidents during this period. 
Jackson and Polk, both native sons of North Carolina 
but adopted by Tennessee, were the only ones not fur- 
nished by The Old Dominion. 

In this golden age of Virginia and the South, it was 
quite the fashion, however, to place a Northern man 
upon the national ticket, either as president or, more 
frequently, as vice-president, to preserve the balance of 
power and harmony between the sections. The older 
and younger Adams of Massachusetts, Van Buren of 
New York, Pierce of New Hampshire, and Buchanan of 
Pennsylvania, served these purposes as presidents; and 
George Clinton, Tompkins, Gerry, Dallas and Fill- 
more, as vice-presidents. 

In this period of our history there was no West as we 
know it today. There were then but two great divisions, 
or sections, of our country: North and South. The for- 
mer comprised all that part lying above Mason and 
Dixon's line; the latter, all that tract below it. In a 
word, the term "North" then meant the territory stretch- 
ing from Pennsylvania northeast to and including New 
Hampshire; the term "South," that extending southwest 
to and including Georgia. Pennsylvania, having six 
states beyond and six below her, was the pivot; hence 
her name of The Keystone State. The original thirteen 
colonies, or states, stretched along the Atlantic seaboard 
irregularly from New Hampshire in the extreme north- 
east to Georgia, the extreme southwest, as stated. 

As new states were added to the Union, they were of 
necessity formed from territory south or west of the 
original thirteen, Maine excepted; and Kentucky, admit- 
ted 1792; Tennessee, 1796; Ohio, 1802; Louisiana, 
1812; Indiana, 1816, and others, were carved out of 
such territory during the first thirty-five years after the 
inauguration of the government. Up to this time ( 1 824) 
the West did not presume to offer a candidate of its own 
for either president or vice-president. Until then all 
nominees for both offices, of whatever party, had been 
taken from and born in that narrow strip of land lying 
[4] 



along the Atlantic seacoast. In that year, however, the 
growing country burst its bonds : it crossed the Allegha- 
nies for two of her presidential candidates; and the 
Southwest began to assume proportions as a political 
factor. Two men from that section, Henry Clay of 
Kentucky and Andrew Jackson of Tennessee, appeared 
as rivals for the seat soon to be vacated by James Mon- 
roe. Neither was then successful, but their candidacy 
served to show how tenacious the original thirteen were 
of their supremacy and how unwilling they were to relin- 
quish it: Clay was born in Virginia, Jackson in North 
Carolina ! Hence, both were more Southern than West- 
ern. And a careful study of our political history reveals 
the fact that not only our presidents and vice-presidents, 
but even our leading unsuccessful candidates for those 
offices were, with few exceptions, born in the thirteen 
states, up to 1861, when The Old Era ended and The 
New Era began! This is truly a remarkable fact; and 
shows how reluctantly the sceptre passed from the old 
states to the new ones; from the South and North to the 
West. "Westward the star of empire took its way" — 
though very slowly ! 

The original alignment, as we have seen, was between 
the South and North. In 1861, after a quarter of a cen- 
tury of agitation and struggle, the great West as we 
know it today came in for her proper and natural share 
of public honors. "Where MacGregor sits is the head 
of the table" ; and the Middle West has ever since kept 
her seat very near that coveted place ! As the number 
of states of the Union multiplied, the centre of popula- 
tion gradually shifted westward ; and political supremacy 
did likewise. We hear much of the Constitution "fol- 
lowing the flag" ; and The Old Era, first placing her flag 
at half-mast, then furling it altogether, surrendered it 
Into the hands of The New Era; then meekly followed 
her Into the mighty West (which her own body had 
largely helped to create), out of whose virgin soil wealth 
Inexhaustible was to be dug; upon whose fertile plains 
an empire was to be created; and from whose greatest 
son a new Declaration of Independence was to issue ! 

[5] 



Up to 1836 that great stretch of territory north of 
the Ohio had presented no candidate to the nation for 
either president or vice; but in that year she completed 
the work begun in 1824 — not only passing the Allegha- 
nies but crossing the Ohio and putting forward William 
Henry Harrison of that state as a fit nominee for presi- 
dent on the Whig ticket. He was a son of Virginia; a 
military hero of the war of 1812, and known as "Tippe- 
canoe"; old, and a lover of hard cider. These "qualifi- 
cations," however, did not prevent his defeat by Van 
Buren, backed as he was by the great power of Andrew 
Jackson. Four years later, or 1840, the tables were 
turned upon Van Buren, "Tippecanoe and Tyler too" 
defeating him overwhelmingly. But Harrison died in 
the White House exactly a month from his inaugura- 
tion; and the fruits of their victory were lost to the 
Whigs. 

The election of 1844 witnessed the third and last 
attempt of Henry Clay to secure the presidency; Theo- 
dore Frelinghuysen of New Jersey, his running mate. 
James K. Polk of Tennessee, (born in North Carolina) 
and George M. Dallas of Pennsylvania, opposed them 
and were successful, the vote of New York turning the 
scale. 

Encouraged by her success with Harrison, a military 
hero, in 1840, the West in 1848 presented another can- 
didate in the person of General Lewis Cass of Michigan, 
on the Democratic ticket. Cass, a New Hampshire boy, 
had some military reputation, but was beaten by General 
Zach Taylor, "Old Rough and Ready," the real hero of 
the Mexican War. His success against Cass was due to 
the appearance of Martin Van Buren as a Free-soiler, 
whose vote in New York gave that state to the Whigs. 

In 1852 both great parties took their candidates from 
the old sections : Pierce of New Hampshire and King of 
Alabama (born in North Carolina) against Scott of 
Virginia and Graham of North Carolina. The former 
were elected overwhelmingly; and the Whig party 
ceased to exist. 

[6] 



Beaten with Scott, a Southern military hero, the West 
essayed another in 1856, in the person of General John 
C. Fremont of California, the brilliant Pathfinder. This 
was the first time a candidate was named from beyond 
the Mississippi. Fremont was born in Georgia; as a 
son-in-law of Thomas H. Benton, was allied to the 
Democratic party; yet he became the first candidate of 
the new Republican party! He was opposed by his 
wife's father on the ground that his (Fremont's) suc- 
cess "would mean the triumph of a sectional party" ! 
William L. Dayton of New Jersey went down to defeat 
with him. Abraham Lincoln of Illinois, then unknown, 
received a large number of votes in convention for vice- 
president, and was Dayton's nearest competitor. Buch- 
anan of Pennsylvania, and Breckinridge of Kentucky, 
carried the country. 

Away back in March, 1850, William H. Seward of 
New York, when speaking in the Senate in favor of the 
admission of California into the Union as a free state, 
uttered these remarkable words : ''The people have been 
accustomed to say, 'the South and the North' ; they are 
only beginning now to say, 'the North and the South.' " 
The day was approaching, the hour was striking in which 
this statement, this prophecy, was to be fulfilled; the 
South's supremacy was to come to an end; her sceptre 
was to pass. Strangely enough, she furnished the one 
who was to exercise the sovereignty thus relinquished; 
she provided the hero for the great drama then opening ! 

In the campaign of "60 Abraham Lincoln, born on 
the slave soil of Kentucky, reared in Indiana and there 
grown to manhood,finally settling in Illinois, the Empire 
state of the West, — a physical, mental and moral giant, 
who by sheer force of character and intellect had two 
years before wrested the leadership of his state from 
Stephen A. Douglas, the Democratic idol, broke up the 
old regime by capturing the presidency on the Repub- 
lican ticket. His mate, Hannibal Hamlin, hailed from 
Maine; thus the first combination of East and West, 
with the West the senior partner, was formed. By their 

[7] 



triumph the old firm of South and North was dissolved ; 
and has never since been in business. 

Mr. Lincoln's rivals were three in number, and pow- 
erful : Douglas (born in Vermont) and H. V. Johnson 
of Georgia were the Northern Democratic candidates; 
Breckinridge of Kentucky and Joseph Lane of Oregon 
(born in North Carolina) were the Southern Demo- 
cratic; while the Constitutional Union Party put up 
John Bell of Tennessee and Edward Everett of 
Massachusetts. 

"War legislates" ; and our Civil War, which followed 
hard upon the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln, disturbed 
and recast our political map. States like Pennsylvania, 
Ohio, Michigan and Illinois, which had been in ante- 
bellum days largely Democratic, became strongly 
Republican. The treaty which had so long existed 
between the South and North was destroyed by fire; the 
compact was dissolved by mutual consent; and each 
party to it sought a new alliance. The change, the revo- 
lution wrought in the South, was even greater and more 
significant than that in the North. Prior to '61 the 
South had been largely Whig, and numbers of her 
leaders and candidates had come from that section: 
Clay, Crittenden, Bell, Graham, Mangum, Badger. 
But the same fire which burned in the North burned 
even more fiercely in the South; and she became heart 
and soul Democratic. 

A study of our political history since 1860 reveals, not 
only the continued existence of this copartnership be- 
tween East and West, but the still more striking fact 
that Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and New York, the Big 
Four, have furnished nearly all our candidates, presi- 
dential and vice-presidential, since that time, with Ken- 
tucky standing in the background. A review of this 
period fully confirms these statements. 

In 1864 the Republicans renominated Lincoln, put- 
ting Andrew Johnson, a Tennessee War Democrat, 
upon the ticket with him. Johnson was born in North 
Carolina, — one of the original thirteen! Gen. George 

[8] 



B. McClellan of New York (born In Pennsylvania) and 
George H. Pendleton of Ohio were the Democratic can- 
didates; and the youngest pair who ever entered a 
national race, being but thirty-eight and thirty-nine years 
of age, respectively. The Independent Republicans, 
dissatisfied with Mr. Lincoln's administration, put for- 
ward Gen. Fremont and Gen. John Cochran of New 
York. This ticket was withdrawn later, — "not to aid in 
the triumph of Mr. Lincoln, but to do my part toward 
preventing the election of the Democratic candidate," 
Fremont wrote. Lincoln had a good majority of the 
popular vote and an overwhelming one of the electoral; 
and was the first man to be re-elected by the North 
or West. 

1868 saw the candidates of both great parties taken 
from the same territory, — Gen. U. S. Grant, born in 
Ohio, though living in Galena, Illinois, being the Re- 
publican standard bearer; and Horatio Seymour of 
New York, the Democratic. Grant's running mate was 
Schuyler Colfax of Indiana, who was born in New 
York; Seymour's was Gen. Frank P. Blair, Jr., hailing 
from Missouri, though first seeing the light of day in 
"Ole Kaintuck." 

1872 saw Grant's re-nomination and re-election. 
Henry Wilson, a Massachusetts senator, born in New 
Hampshire, was associated with him. Horace Greeley, 
also from the Granite state but adopted by New York, 
and the editor of the Tribune, bore aloft the standard 
of the Liberal Republican and Democratic parties. As 
in '68, the Democracy selected a Kentuckian by birth 
but Missourian by adoption as their vice-presidential 
candidate, — Benjamin Gratz Brown. Greeley was not 
only overwhelmingly defeated, but did not live to wit- 
ness the meeting of the electors, for the first time in our 
history. The straight-out Democrats had Charles 
O'Conor of New York and John Quincy Adams of 
Massachusetts lead them. The Prohibition party made 
its first appearance in the national field at this election, 
James Black of Pennsylvania and Rev. John Russell 

[9] 



of Michigan, being Its nominees. The war and the 
issues arising from it had absorbed the whole attention 
of the country for twelve long years; from 1872 on, 
other questions claimed their thought and devotion; and 
to this fact may be attributed some measure of the 
Increasing good will between the sections. General- 
Grant's first letter of acceptance concluded with the fer- 
vent words, "Let us have peace!" Coming from the 
hero of Vicksburg and Appomattox, they had extraor- 
dinary significance, and did much to close the "bloody 
chasm." 

The Republicans In 1876 selected Gov. Rutherford 
B. Hayes of Ohio and William A. Wheeler of New 
York as their nominees, — still another combination of 
West and East ! The Democrats did just the reverse, — 
selecting their candidate for president from the East, 
Samuel J. Tllden of New York, and their choice for 
vice-president from the West, Thomas A. Hendricks of 
Indiana, though born in Ohio. Even the standard 
bearers of the National Greenback party, which for the 
first time appeared in the field, — Peter Cooper and 
Samuel F. Cary, — were from New York and Ohio, 
respectively. Kentucky, in order to maintain her repu- 
tation, furnished the National Prohibition Reform party 
with Its candidate for president. Gen. Green Clay Smith ; 
G. T. Stewart of Ohio was associated with him. This 
presidential election was more closely contested than 
any other, the Democrats claiming South Carolina, 
Louisiana and Florida for Mr. Tllden, though on the 
face of the returns Mr. Hayes carried them. With 
these votes Mr. Tllden would have a clear majority In 
the electoral college, as he had unquestionably among 
the people; without them he would be beaten by one 
vote. After long and exciting discussions, both within 
and without Congress, and coming dangerously near to 
civil war, the decision of the Electoral Commission, 
created by Congress specifically to hear and determine 
the case, gave Mr. Hayes the electoral votes of these 
three states, who thereby gained the presidency with 
185 votes to 184 for Mr. Tllden. 

[10] 



The election of 1880 saw the Republican party take 
her candidates not only from the same sections as in 
1876, but from the identical states, Ohio and New 
York, and in the same order. The struggle between 
Blaine and Grant for the presidential nomination made 
a compromise candidate necessary; and Gen. James A. 
Garfield, a native Buckeye, was the fortunate man. 
Levi P. Morton was tendered the vice-presidency, but 
declined it; then Chester A. Arthur was selected. Both 
of these gentlemen were born in Vermont, but had 
resided for many years in New York. The Democratic 
party just reversed, sectionally speaking, taking its lead- 
ing candidate from New York in the person of Gen. 
Winfield Scott Hancock (born in Pennsylvania), a gal- 
lant regular army officer and the hero of Gettysburg. 
William H. English of Indiana was chosen as his run- 
ning mate. The National Greenback-Labor party put 
forward Gen. James B. Weaver of Iowa, who first saw 
the light of day in Ohio. This was the first time the 
Mississippi river had been crossed by any political party, 
save in 1856 with Fremont by the Republicans. After 
an exciting canvass Garfield was elected by the vote of 
New York. 

The Republican party in 1884, for the first time in its 
history, selected its presidential candidate from the 
East, in the person of James G. Blaine of Maine. Penn- 
sylvania was his birthplace. Associated with him was 
Gen. John A. Logan of Illinois. The Democracy 
adhered to its traditional policy, inaugurated in 1 864, of 
running a New Yorker, Grover Cleveland by name, for 
the highest office in the nation. Mr. Cleveland was 
born in New Jersey; and up to his election as governor 
of the Empire state, two years before, was practically 
unknown outside of his adopted city of Buffalo. He, 
like James K. Polk in 1844, was pitted against the most 
brilliant and popular man of his time, against the Henry 
Clay of his generation; and like Polk, he won through a 
narrow margin in New York, which turned the scale in 
his favor. Mr. Hendricks, of Indiana, who had been 

[11] 



Mr. Tllden's associate in 1876, was elected with Mr. 
Cleveland. The Prohibition standard bearer, John 
Pierre St. John, hailed from Kansas, though born in 
Indiana. 

Beaten in '84 with an Eastern candidate, the Repub- 
licans in '88 returned to their time-honored policy of 
selecting one from the West, and picked Benjamin 
Harrison of Indiana as the man to lead them to victory. 
Born in Ohio, he was the grandson of William Henry 
Harrison, the first Whig president, and the great-grand- 
son of Governor Benjamin Harrison of Virginia, one of 
the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Levi 
P. Morton, of Vermont and New York, was placed 
upon the ticket with him. President Cleveland was 
renominated; associated with him was the Old Roman 
of Ohio, Allan G. Thurman. Born in Virginia, Thur- 
man had lived in the Buckeye state from his sixth year. 
Verily, the Old Dominion, claiming both Harrison and 
Thurman, could not relinquish the sceptre ! General 
Clinton B. Fisk, the Prohibition candidate, was born in 
New York. Benjamin Harrison, like William Henry, 
proved a winner, defeating President Cleveland even as 
his grandfather had defeated that other distinguished 
New Yorker, President Martin Van Buren; though 
W. H. Harrison's victory was much more overwhelm- 
ing and did not, like Benjamin's, hinge upon the result 
in New York. 

President Benjamin Harrison was renominated in 
1892 with Whitelaw Reid of New York as his asso- 
ciate. Like Harrison, Reid was a native of Ohio; and 
their joint nomination seemed to contravene Article II., 
Section I., of the Constitution which reads as follows: 
"The electors shall meet in their respective states and 
vote by ballot for two persons, of whom one at least 
shall not be an inhabitant of the same state as them- 
selves." But though both were native sons of Ohio, 
Harrison was an adopted son of Indiana, Reid of New 
York; hence, the constitutional inhibition did not apply. 
William Henry Harrison and John Tyler, in 1840, 
both natives of Virginia, presented a parallel case. The 

[12] 



Democracy tried again with Cleveland, placing Adlai 
E. Stevenson of Illinois (born in Kentucky!) upon the 
ticket with him. General Weaver appeared once more 
as a presidential candidate, this time of the Populists. 
Cleveland was chosen by a large popular and electoral 
vote; though Weaver achieved a genuine distinction 
in being the first third-party candidate since 1856 to 
receive votes in the electoral college. 

Nominating William McKinley of Ohio and Garret 
A. Hobart of New Jersey as their choice, the Repub- 
licans swept the country in 1 896. Opposed to them were 
William Jennings Bryan, an adopted son of Nebraska 
though a native Illinoisian; and Arthur Sewall of 
Maine. The National (or Gold) Democrats refused 
to follow Bryan and supported Gen. John M. Palmer 
of Illinois and Gen. Simon B. Buckner of Kentucky. 
One had been a Union, the other a Confederate gen- 
eral; each had served as governor of his state; and both 
were natives of old Kentucky. 

Renominating President McKinley in 1900, the 
Republican party again carried the country against Mr. 
Bryan, though by a decreased majority in many quar- 
ters. McKinley's partner was Theodore Roosevelt of 
New York; Bryan's, ex-Vice-President Stevenson of 
Illinois. In this campaign Eugene V. Debs of Indiana 
first appeared as a presidential candidate upon the 
Social Democratic ticket. He polled nearly 100,000 
votes. 

President McKinley's assassination in 1901 brought 
Vice-President Theodore Roosevelt into the executive 
chair at the early age of forty-three, he thus becoming 
the youngest president in our history. In 1904 he broke 
all precedents by securing an election as president. The 
other vice-presidents (Tyler, Fillmore, Johnson and 
Arthur), who succeeded to the presidential ofiice 
through the deaths of their respective chiefs, were not 
able to secure a nomination even. Charles W. Fair- 
banks, a Buckeye by birth but Hoosier by adoption, was 
Roosevelt's running mate. Judge Alton B. Parker of 

[13] 



New York was put forward by the Democratic party; 
and Henry G. Davis of West Virginia (born in Mary- 
land) was associated with him. Mr. Davis was the 
oldest candidate in our history, being over eighty years 
of age. Eugene V. Debs again appeared, this time 
as head of the Socialist party; and polled over 400,000 
votes. 

Again an Ohioan headed the successful Republican 
ticket in 1908 in the person of William H. Taft; again 
a New Yorker, James S. Sherman, ran for vice-presi- 
dent. Both Mr. Bryan and Mr. Debs made their third 
trial for the presidency, equalling Henry Clay's record 
of 1824, 1832 and 1844 with a like result. Mr. Bryan's 
partner was John W. Kern of Indiana. 

The year 1912 saw President Taft's defeat for 
re-election, Mr. Sherman of course sharing the same 
fate. But two of the forty-eight states, Vermont and 
Utah, cast their electoral votes for them. Theodore 
Roosevelt's candidacy on the Progressive ticket, with 
Gov. Hiram Johnson of California, was responsible 
for the poor showing of the Republicans, — he polling 
more popular and electoral votes than they. Wood- 
row Wilson of New Jersey (born in Virginia) was 
chosen president because of this breach; and Thomas 
R. Marshall of Indiana for vice-president. Another 
combination of East and West! Again was Mr. Debs 
in the field. 

In this year of grace (1916) President Wilson and 
Vice-President Marshall are before the people for 
re-election; Charles Evans Hughes of New York and 
Charles W. Fairbanks of Indiana are opposing them. 
Whatever way the election goes the combination of 
East and West simply cannot be beaten. Even the 
Prohibition candidate for president, J. Frank Hanly, 
hails from Indiana, though born in Illinois. 

The foregoing sketch of our national political history 
fully bears out the claim that the Original Thirteen 
States ruled the country up to 1861 ; and that since that 
time the Big Four, namely, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and 

[14] 



] 



New York, have been supreme. The first period con- 
stituted The Old Era; the latter, The New. Virginia 
was the chief factor in those old days, but long a cipher 
in the present regime, though a son of hers now sits in 
the White House; New York, associated with her in 
that early time, occupies the unique distinction of being 
foremost in both. It has been said that few men are 
useful in more than one era; it is likewise often true of 
states and nations. Virginia proved the rule; New 
York broke it and thereby became the exception. Vir- 
ginia, Mother of Presidents and of Henry, Marshall, 
Scott, Thomas, the Masons, Randolphs and Lees, 
unheeding the warnings and pleadings of three of her 
greatest sons, Washington, Jefferson and Clay, refused 
to favor even the gradual emancipation of her slaves; 
and, later, was caught in the vortex of secession, though 
reluctantly. Her domination passed with the rise of 
anti-slavery sentiment throughout the country; the fall 
of Richmond ; and the growth of the West. New York, 
more fortunate, once sharing supremacy with her, pre- 
served her own proud place in the galaxy of states by 
reading aright the signs of the times in abolishing 
slavery within her own borders; by strongly support- 
ing the union cause; and by allying herself with the 
West. 

If Virginia deserved the proud title of Mother of 
Presidents — and she did — New York must be called the 
Mother of Vice-Presidents; for not less than ten of 
her sons have filled that chair: Burr, George Clinton, 
Tompkins, Van Buren, Fillmore, Wheeler, Arthur, 
Morton, Roosevelt and Sherman. Of these Van Buren 
was elected to the presidency, also; while three of this 
list, Fillmore, Arthur and Roosevelt, succeeded to that 
high office upon the death of their respective chiefs, 
Taylor, Garfield and McKinley. Roosevelt, as already 
stated, was also chosen for a term of his own. Grover 
Cleveland, another New Yorker, served eight years in 
the White House. Taking it all in all, when one stud- 
ies the history of the Empire state he is constrained to 

[15] 



exclaim, Great zvas Diana of the Ephesians; great is 
New York! 

The geographical center of these United States is at 
Topeka, Kansas; the center of population is located in 
Indiana, according to the last census, that of 1910. 
From the foregoing survey of our history one would 
conclude that our political center was very near Indian- 
apolis. Within a radius of three hundred and fifty 
miles of that city a majority of our presidents and 
vice-presidents since 1861, and even the candidates, of 
all parties, for those offices since that time, have been 
recruited. 

What the future of our country, politically speaking, 
is to be no one knows; but as our population increases 
and the votes in the electoral college are thereby aug- 
mented, the West, growing much more rapidly than the 
East, looms up larger and larger. The East must make 
extraordinary efforts to retain her present command- 
ing position. From our first census the center of popu- 
lation has shifted, first southward, then westward; 
from its present place in the Mississippi valley it may 
yet cross that river. Should it do so the East will be in 
great danger of losing that proud place which New 
York's pre-eminence alone sustains. The Mississippi 
crossed, the center of political gravity will be entirely 
beyond and outside of New York, which must of neces- 
sity fall. In many national elections the result has been 
attained without any assistance from her; in fact, with 
few exceptions, notably '44, '48, '60, '80 and '84, New 
York has not been a deciding factor. Sometimes she 
was on the winning side, as in 1840 and 1852; some- 
times on the losing, as in 1856 and 1868; but with the 
exceptions noted her voice has not been decisive in a 
hundred years. As time goes on she will become less 
and less indispensable to any political party; and while 
she is the Empire state of the Union, because of her 
wealth, population and commercial importance, Ohio, a 
child of the Old Dominion, has, like Jacob, become a 
supplanter and succeeded her as the Mother of Presi- 
dents ! Verily, Virginia, like Webster, "still lives." 

[16] 



This study of our political history has been written 
with no partisan bias, no sectional bitterness; only with 
the sincere desire to ascertain the facts, present them 
and draw the lessons from them. The writer, bound by 
the most sacred ties to both North and South, rejoices 
that the time has again come in which the home of 
Washington, of Jefferson and of Jackson furnishes, as 
of old, worthy candidates for national honors; and not 
until the South once more took her rightful, her his- 
toric place in the administration of our affairs, would 
we be in reality one country and share a common 
destiny ! 




[17] 



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